A 31-year-old girl in Australia has been charged with arson after she set fireplace to the COVID-19 quarantine resort the place she was staying on Sunday morning, authorities mentioned.
The unidentified girl lit the fireplace within the Eleventh-floor room the place she was quarantined together with her two kids on the Pacific Lodge Cairns within the northern metropolis of Cairns, the BBC reported.
Nobody was injured within the blaze, however greater than 160 folks had been pressured to evacuate, police mentioned.
Performing Chief Superintendent Chris Hodgman mentioned the lady was in custody and police had been caring for her kids.
He mentioned the lady had been in quarantine for a few days and there had been points together with her that authorities “had been managing,” Hodgman mentioned.
The incident got here as tensions rose in elements of Australia because of COVID-19 restrictions and the newest issues over the emergence of the Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa by scientists.
It’s unclear whether or not the variant causes extra extreme illness.
However in response to the variant, the federal government has banned overseas vacationers from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique.
Australian residents getting back from these nations will likely be required to quarantine for 14 days in lodges.
Beforehand, quarantine guidelines utilized to unvaccinated vacationers coming into the nation.
